1571 - 161O 'Michelangelo Merisi' of the small town of 'Caravaggio' in Lombardy Northern Italy was a famous painter of the pre Baroque era in European art. He painted dramatically realisitic religious scenes lit with a striking use of Chiaroscuro (high contrast light /shadow) known as Tenebrism (dark gloomy moody realistic )
from wiki
He made the technique a dominant stylistic element, darkening shadows and transfixing subjects in bright shafts of light. Caravaggio vividly expressed crucial moments and scenes, often featuring violent struggles, torture and death. He worked rapidly, with live models, preferring to forego drawings and work directly onto the canvas. His influence on the new Baroque style that emerged from Mannerism was profound. It can be seen directly or indirectly in the work of Peter Paul Rubens, Jusepe de Ribera, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and Rembrandt, and artists in the following generation heavily under his influence were called the "Caravaggisti" or "Caravagesques", as well as tenebrists or tenebrosi ("shadowists").
What photographers can learn from him is dramatic gesture and composition in group scenes, as well a portaying the decisive moment.
Some years ago in the Ukraine parliment a flight broke out - we have a Caravaggio like art scene
GROUP CLASS ASSIGNMENT -
Assemble a dramatic scene that has a decisive moment - photograph it in Black & White
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